Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

IS THIS WHAT OBAMA'S DOING IN INDIA?

In the summer of 2008, there were a few mentions of what Barack Obama carries around for good luck. One of the things he admitted to carrying around was a tiny monkey god, known in India as Lord Hanuman. In the days leading up to his election, a two foot statue of Hanuman was built and shipped to Obama from India to help him in his election bid. Lord Hanuman is one of the most revered gods in the Hindu religion and Obama's arrival there coincides with the unveiling of the largest statue of Hanuman to date.

First, from June of 2008, even POLITICO and TIME reported on Obama's affinity for Lord Hanuman.

WND reported at the time:
A group of Hindus in India have presented Sen. Barack Obama's campaign with a two-foot Hindu monkey-god idol after hearing the candidate carries a smaller version of the Lord Hanuman good-luck charm with him as he vies for the presidency.

Earlier this week, according to reports in India, Obama representative Carolyn Sauvage-Mar accepted the gold-plated statue, promising to pass it on to the candidate after is it sanctified through ritual Hindu prayers.

"The idol is being presented to Obama as he is reported to be a Lord Hanuman devotee and carries with him a locket of the monkey god along with other good luck charms," reported the Times of India.
The statue was received by Sauvage-Mar in India and then shipped to Obama for arrival one day before the Democrat Convention on August 24, 2008.

Fast forward to November, 2010. Obama heads for India on November 5th. On that very same day, Zee News reported on the unveiling - in Shimla - of the largest Lord Hanuman statue erected to date:
Shimla: The world's tallest idol of Lord Hanuman was unveiled at the Jakhu temple here on Thursday by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in the presence of film star Abhishek Bachchan, his sister Shweta Bachchan Nanda and other members of Nanda Trust.

The 108-feet tall idol was installed at the highest peak of the town. As the legned goes, Hanumanji had rested on Jakhu hill for a while here after taking "sanjivini booti" from Deoronagiri and an ancient temple was already in existence for a long time.
If Obama felt that he gleaned luck from a two foot statue in 2008, what kind of luck does he hope to glean while in India at the time of the unveiling of a 108-feet tall Monkey god statue?

Here's the video of the unveiling:

TEXAS BILL SIMILAR TO ARIZONA'S SB 1070 INTRODUCED

One of the consequences of huge Republican gains in the recent elections is the introduction of a bill similar to Arizona's SB 1070 that would allow local officials to enforce national immigration laws. State legislatures all across the country saw huge pickups but Texas Republicans in particular now have 99 of the 150 state house seats, leaving them just one short of a two-thirds majority. It didn't take Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) to get her bill on the table either.

Via WOAI in San Antonio:
Less than an hour after the period began for filing bills for consideration in the 2011 Legislative session, State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball), a leader of the newly muscular conservatives in the Legislature, filed an 'Arizona style' measure that would crack down on illegal immigration, 1200 WOAI news reports.

Riddle says her measure is a response to what she says is the escalating violence caused by Mexican and Latin American gangs in Texas.

"It is absolutely out of control with the gang related crime, which is going through the roof, so, yes, we are addressing this, and quite frankly, I am not worried about political correctness," Riddle told 1200 WOAI news.
Chalk another one up for the ladies. They're racking up quite a few victories over their male counterparts lately.

h/t Weasel Zippers

NPR CHANGING ITS TUNE ON IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC FUNDING

After firing Juan Williams, NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller attempted to dismiss the notion that de-funding her organization would have minimal effect because taxpayer dollars account for so little of NPR's income - most of their money comes from donations and such a move would be virtually inconsequential. The line of thinking was one of, 'you can go ahead and defund us but it'll just be a waste of your time and it will have minimal impact on us.'

That particular tune appears to be changing. Now, Schiller is almost pleading that NPR not be defunded, not because of what it would do to her or NPR itself but what it would do to the little NPR's.

Via the Daily Caller:
Speaking at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington Sunday on the “Future of Journalism,” National Public Radio President and CEO Vivian Schiller said she takes calls for defunding NPR “very seriously,” while stressing how important government funding is for public broadcasting, especially for NPR’s member stations. She also recognized there’s a possibility that, with the new GOP majority in the House, those calls for defunding might be renewed.

“If defunding to public broadcasting were to occur, it would be devastating to public broadcasting. That’s a fact,” Schiller said.

After Schiller fired commentator Juan Williams several weeks ago for comments he made about Muslims on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor,” calls for defunding NPR erupted again.

“Almost all federal funding goes to member stations,” Schiller said. “Very, very little of it goes to NPR, but a lot goes to stations.”

While NPR headquarters only receives about 1 percent of funding from tax dollars, member stations receive about 9 percent of their funding from tax dollars, Schiller said. She said that the 9 percent NPR member stations receive from taxpayer dollars is essential for them to stay on the air.

“For small stations, and even for large stations, that’s a big chunk of their revenue,” she said. “It’s been a critical part of keeping those stations vibrant and, so, we take these calls for defunding very, very seriously.”
This is eerily similar to the arguments Democrats / Liberals make when you start talking about defunding local governments. What do they invariably say? They accuse the other side of being responsible for cutting police departments and education.

Perhaps the quintessentially ironic moment was that Schiller pointed to the intelligence of NPR listeners by holding up the comment section at the bottom of the "balloon boy" story as a shining example of their superior intellect.
“We have a comment section under our blog posts, just like every other news organization,” Schiller said. “If you look at most comment sections, they are usually pretty disappointing, you know, people yelling at each other, going off subject, there’s a lot of hand-wringing in the comment section.”

The comments on NPR’s blog post about the balloon boy, Schiller said, set NPR’s audience apart from everyone else. She then proceeded to read two comments as an example.
Nothing like pointing to a story that pales in insignificance to what important things are going on in the world. Then again, how could CAIR object to stories about balloon boy?

Perhaps if NPR wasn't so seemingly beholden to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the group who demanded - and received - action from NPR over Williams' comments, taxpayers wouldn't object so much.

h/t Gateway Pundit
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